


To Kneel

by sparklight



Series: Courting Ganymede [6]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Light Dom/sub, M/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29006964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: Zeus might have noticed very quickly Ganymede might share some of his proclivities, but it takes a while before they get there. In the end it's well worth it. The only question is if Ganymede will admit to it, and what Zeus might choose to do if the answer isn't to his liking.
Relationships: Ganymede/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Series: Courting Ganymede [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672690
Kudos: 16





	To Kneel

"For tonight," Zeus murmured as he pulled back from the kiss, Ganymede at first trying to follow him, so distracted by it was he, "I don't want to hear a word out of you unless it come attached to 'my lord'."

Zeus waited, watching Ganymede process what he he'd said, wide, uncertain eyes locked to his.

"Do you understand, Ganymede?"

"... Yes, my lord."

He didn't yet, but Zeus knew he soon would. 

Ganymede was clever, and while he might not fully understand, Zeus was certain by now that he would end up enjoying what was to come. What he'd seen through the years since he'd actually picked up on the suggestion that was there had offered plenty of both hope and proof. He knew, too, why this had had to wait until Ganymede hadn't just become accustomed to addressing him by his name, but comfortable with it; the meaning inherent to using the title here, now and specified for this evening, would otherwise have been lost. For those goddesses and nymphs he'd indulged in these matters and needs before, there'd never been a need to explain, as they all knew from an early age what it was about, whether the need was strongly present or not. 

He'd chafed at having to wait, but it'd become clear to him from early on that if he should have what he wanted, he’d have to wait. More than that, if Ganymede was to realize there was a difference between this and regular respect paid, he didn’t just have to wait; it’d be imperative that he do so. 

Now, he might finally be rewarded. And be able to reward Ganymede too, even if his darling cupbearer didn't yet know there was anything to be rewarded _for_.

"And for tonight I don't want you doing a single thing unless I have given you leave to do so." 

Zeus fell silent, watching Ganymede intently, and his prince squirmed, a quick glance up at Zeus with worry obvious in his expression. It settled back into bewildered confusion when it was clear the warmth of Zeus' voice had not concealed any displeasure. Because of course Zeus wasn't angry, and there was nothing Ganymede had done that would make such a restriction a punishment. Another glance, more veiled now, and Zeus had to hold himself perfectly still. Then, after swallowing heavily, the apple of his throat jerkily twitching up and down, Ganymede nodded.

"Yes, my lord." It was a bare whisper, still uncertain, but there was a tinge of heat to Ganymede's cheeks, now.

"Then, sweet Ganymede, kneel."

Wide eyed, the boy did so, and his brilliant eyes fell closed with a shudder as Zeus dropped his hand to those lovely curls and stroked them. "Like that, yes. All you need to do is give yourself to me. You are a treasure, beloved."

Ganymede's breath hitched a little, and while there was still confusion there, his shoulders drooped and the blush darkened a shade. Yes, Ganymede was both picking up on what Zeus was doing, experiencing the exact reactions that Zeus was looking for, and starting to enjoy them, even if he still didn't yet understand. Pleasure warmed Zeus from the inside out, hardening his arousal, but it was nothing next to the pleasure of watching Ganymede come to enjoy what was going on the longer the night progressed. 

It might be similar to their regular dynamic, but that similarity was also nothing more than the palest of imitations when it came down to it.

Later, there was Ganymede curled up soft and asleep against him and Zeus still riding the high of feeling a content so deep he was, for once, actually sleepy in a way a mortal might have recognized. What unfortunately also came along was the unpleasant intrusion of _what if this was the only time?_. He wasn't sure he could take it, if so. Not after this evening.

It wasn't that he'd never experienced before what Ganymede had given him. Of course not. That would have been an unthinkable insult to several of his previous lovers and wives. It was more that with this time he’d had with Ganymede beside him, had come familiarity and knowledge. It was more that, as if by a cosmic, nearly mocking it seemed sometimes to Zeus, stroke of luck, Ganymede by all appearances shared the greater parts of his desires. A human. A formerly mortal human who could so easily have been lost to the appointed and suitable cycle of life and death that touched everything else, if not for his godlike perfection. And even so, if Zeus had somehow been able to ignore his attraction, if he'd insisted that what he felt for this young man was only simple appreciation and nothing different from any other stunning male, mortal or immortal, he would still yet have missed this chance.

And so, what would he do if Ganymede was too confused by what Zeus had dug up from inside of him to want to dip deeper into it?

It was uncertainty that wasn't helped when he woke up to Ganymede for once already awake, but also, the moment he noticed Zeus was waking up, quickly pretending to be asleep. Zeus didn't call him out on it immediately, just lay there, fingers trailing through those thick, soft curls and considered the potential results of this. The potential fallout. Did he insist on it, if Ganymede, despite that they both knew he had enjoyed it, put his foot down for once? He hadn't ever done so so far. Zeus could honestly not tell if the reason for such was that Ganymede didn't dare to, despite the years between them and Zeus' obvious indulgent affection for him, or because he hadn't yet pushed so hard for something Ganymede truly didn't like that he'd never felt a need to say no.

So what would he do, if it was this that would make him do so, no matter the pleasure they'd both felt? 

It wouldn't kill his desire for the youth, and it wouldn't kill his want of his presence, but Zeus honestly didn't know what he might do. Ignore it, maybe; Ganymede wouldn’t actually dislike it. Spend a lot of time trying to convince him was another option. 

Perhaps it was only the lingering, flushed pleasure of being so thoroughly satisfied that was making him vulnerably maudlin over the whole thing, and he frankly hated it. It was one more unusual and unfamiliar issue to deal with when it came to Ganymede, who seemed to excel in presenting his lover with such situations by his mere existence. Ganymede was honestly lucky Zeus loved him so, or he might have been driven by the incredulous offense that a mortal should be able to do this to him, the king of the gods, into punishing him. It wouldn't be satisfying, and Zeus could never imagine giving in to that urge, but it was a part of him nonetheless. Divinity had its quirks.

Zeus was of course used to not being able to satisfy himself much when it came to this sort of need, so in the end, if Ganymede did say no, he would probably do nothing. Usually it mattered little if he did get to indulge himself or not - at least insofar as Zeus noticing what effects ignoring it had on him. It was just also always hardest to ignore when he did feel complete like this. Even more so with the flushed, flustered pleasure Ganymede had showed last night as bewilderment and confusion fell away and he truly stopped thinking of - worrying, more like - what he needed to do, and instead just did what was asked of him.

Of course, that was undoubtedly part of Ganymede's problems this morning, if the little notch between those usually gently curving brows was telling Zeus anything. A prince, even if a human one, was still a prince. He should not _want_ to obey with such personal satisfaction drawn from it.

"Zeus..." Ganymede whispered, peeking up at Zeus past his curls from where his cheek was still pressed against Zeus' chest. Hesitation writ large in those huge eyes, the tense set of his mouth and the way he was worrying his bottom lip. Unfortunately Zeus couldn't tell what the uncertainty was for, what Ganymede was afraid of. Was it wanting to tell Zeus 'never again' and afraid to voice it for fear of what Zeus might do, or just not wishing to tell him no? Was it 'please more' and afraid of that feeling? 

Whichever it was, Zeus couldn't actually ignore it until that worry went away. Not this time. Mostly because he actually did want an answer so he could know what to do and where to go from here.

So he looked down, burying his hand fully in Ganymede's hair and tipped his head in silent inquiry. Ganymede swallowed, and he was going to split his lip if he kept abusing it so. Zeus almost stopped him, for the only one who should turn it tender and threatening to spill ichor was he, but that might distract them and that would not help in the least.

"Can we... do that again, sometime?" Ganymede was so strangled when he said that even divine hearing strained to make sense of the mumble, and as Zeus restrained any reaction other then petting Ganymede's hair and keeping his expression under control. 

At least that cleared up which fear it was Ganymede harboured in that lovely heart of his. Relief he would not admit to battled with burgeoning amusement that would become laughter if he let it, and that wouldn't give the right impression at all. Ganymede was indeed simply terribly confused over liking what had happened last night, and really, that wasn't so strange. 

Zeus should have expected such a reaction, honestly. He'd just been turned far more inward.

"Whenever either of us wish for it, or feel a need of it," Zeus said, watching Ganymede's expression scrunch up in confusion for his phrasing. 

Ah, he'd understand it, sooner or later. Humans did not usually possess the same sort of need, and certainly never in the same way the Deathless Ones might experience it if they _did_ feel such need, but it would be easier if Ganymede experienced it himself, in time. Which Zeus didn't doubt he would, not when Ganymede now knew it was a possibility and had fallen into it so thoroughly. 

Zeus pulled Ganymede up, off his chest and engulfed him in his arms as he kissed him, and Ganymede was a melting spring-stream from the purest mountain glacier in the way he rose to answer it. 

"You've given me a great gift, Ganymede," Zeus murmured against Ganymede's ear, kissing it, then his cheekbone, his mouth again, and when he pulled back, while there was still lingering hesitation on Ganymede's face and in the tense thunder of his heart, he was a lot more relaxed.

"It's all right, then?" Ganymede asked with a frown, once more abusing that pretty lip of his, and Zeus snorted, raising a hand to rub Ganymede's bottom lip with his thumb until the teeth that kept it captured let it go.

"It's not unusual in the least among immortals, sweet Ganymede."

The look of utter bewilderment, and slight suspicion, Ganymede shot him was enough to completely shatter Zeus' control over the laughter that he’d barely kept restrained so far. The sound boomed around them, filling the air. He supposed it did sound like something to be said in an effort to convince a hesitant lover, but he had no need of it when Ganymede himself had already asked if they could repeat last night some other time.

"You can ask Apollo, if you want, beloved," Zeus said and couldn't help his smirk. Apollo both knew the theory and the practice, if only very rarely as Zeus understood it. Ganymede's narrow look intensified, but soon he relaxed and threw his arms around Zeus' neck, shaking his head. He buried his face in the crook of Zeus' neck, and then brought both lips and teeth to bear, and Zeus choked into a groan, scattering the laughter into a last few rolling echoes, like lightning over distant hills.

"I believe you."

It might not immediately soothe Ganymede's own confused worries about it, but it should hopefully help him come to terms with it. If he did feel the need to go elsewhere to ask, he would hear nothing different from anyone else, Apollo or not. Zeus, meanwhile, though admittedly a little distracted by the very ardent attention Ganymede was now paying to his throat, could only be pleased that it had all worked out. Perhaps he was even a little grateful, but if so such things weren't lingered on.

Why would he, when he had this utter gift of a now-immortal human prince in his arms?


End file.
